Identity Paranoia

There’s been a lot in the news about the amount of data that’s kept about us and the amount that is carelessly lost. I don’t mean lost in the sense of deleted, but I mean actually a physical record lost in such a way that people who might use it wrongly could get hold of it. A memory stick misplaced with medical records on it, for instance, a CD lost in the post and bizarrely some paper records ending up in the middle of a traffic roundabout.
But are we forgetting who we are in all of this?
Can out true identities be boiled down to a few administrative details?
Aren’t we really a lot more than that?
Personally, I would actually be more worried about somebody not being able to find my medical record than too many people knowing about it. If we make everything too “secure” we’re in danger of losing the plot in the detail.
Yes, of course it’s important to keep bank details safe, and to look out for people misusing them. But we do behave oddly. We send our driving license or passport out to scores of people when applying for mortgages, or ironically, to have CRB checks. We give our credit card details over the phone, including the security code on the back. Anybody could make a note and use them again. They don’t, because most of us are basically good and if we’re not good, we might just be scared of being found out. I’d challenge anybody to misuse my credit card or take money from my bank account; I’m a very efficient spender. There’s never anything there.
I‘ve had to apply for a new passport recently. Despite all the paranoia about identity and terrorism, it was actually easier than it’s ever been before. I didn’t have to have anyone confirm that my passport picture looked like me. It certainly looks nothing like the old one. But I risked it. I figured that as no one had questioned me in recent weeks, it must be near enough and I wish I did look like I did ten years ago. I went for the “check and send” service. The man at the post office has known me for a few weeks. He said it was okay. Well, the passport came back wihtin the suggested two weeks, despite a postal strike. Makes you think.
Going back to those people who lost that personal data. I doubt whether they did it on purpose, or that they were negligent or even careless. I guess they just made a mistake. We all make mistakes. I’ve managed to destroy a memory stick myself by running over its string on my office chair.